Impacts of watershed development intervention : a case study of Kuladera Nallah Watershed in Kendujhar District of Orissa State, India | |
| Author | Rautray, Anil |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-05-04 |
| Subject(s) | Watershed management--India Watershed management--India--Citizen participation |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Integrated watershed development program has been launched in different states of India over last two decades for managing natural resources to increase overall productivity and conserve for sustainable use to improve the socioeconomic development of the native population following the participatory planning principles. In recent years, watershed based development planning has been in practice taking watershed as a spatial planning unit with focus on natural resources such as land and soil, water, forest, agriculture, livestock, horticulture and other sectoral activities with linkages to rural poverty alleviation through employment and income generation. In general, the institutional framework is well structured for implementing different projects in the watershed involving line agencies, NGOs and local people as the beneficiary and active participants of development process. With this background, an attempt has been made in this research to study and analyze the development activities undertaken by the technical agencies in a micro-watershed and the I outcomes of the interventions. The Kuladera Nallah watershed, a tributary of Baitarani river system, located in Kendujhar district of Orissa State is selected for this study. The study area is geographically spread over two revenue villages (Jharbelda and Nelung) with scattered hamlets. The majority of population is scheduled tribe followed by scheduled caste and others, primarily engaged in agriculture and allied activities. The micro-watershed area is composed of hilly and undulating land, with 56% as agricultural land and 5% occupied by homesteads, roads and public places. A series of interventions were made since 1995 by the State Agency (Soil Conservation Department, Govt. of Orissa during 1995-1998), and Central Government Agency (Water Technology Center for Eastern Region during 1999-2002). The interventions were structural measures (gully control structures, water harvesting structures, check dams repair of existing bunds), measures for agricultural development (introduction of HYV crops, land use change, agricultural development on non-arable land, establishment of nursery seedling center) and formation of watershed committee, farmers' cooperative and youth association for people centered development. This micro-watershed was primarily developed to demonstrate technical interventions to introduce change as a model watershed. The involvement of local people in different activities was indirect to extend some of the outcomes of the technical interventions. This study has been conducted very recently to assess people's participation and associated degree of satisfaction over different activities in terms of adoption and harnessing benefits. Few key indicators are used to measure the degree of impact of interventions on local development. The study has found positive impacts of intervention measures. People have been benefited in terms of food security, raised income, socio-economic condition, development of knowledge and institutions. In this research an effort has been made to find out deficits and also to strengthen further development. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Routray, Jayant K. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Thapa, Gopal B. ;Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Danish Agency for Development Assistance (DANIDA) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |